Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does 1st Corinthians Chapter 2 mean?

Paul begins 1 Corinthians chapter 2 by picking up a train of thought he left behind in the middle of chapter 1. There, he wrote that Christ did not send him to preach the gospel in Corinth with words of eloquent wisdom. To do so would risk emptying the cross of Christ of its power.

Coming back to that idea, Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians of what he was like when he first came to Corinth and started preaching the gospel. They should remember that he didn’t make an impressive or showy presentation. He didn’t wow them with big words or clever arguments or his vast knowledge. He decided ahead of time to only tell them what he knew about Christ and the crucifixion. In fact, Paul reminds them that he was fearful, weak, and trembling before them. We don’t know if he was sick or especially nervous or if Paul was just generally unimpressive in person. In either case, Paul declares that it was for their benefit. He didn’t want anyone to come to faith in Christ because of the way he packaged the message. Instead, the Corinthians believed because God demonstrated His own Spirit and power to the them (1 Corinthians 2:1–5).

It’s not that wisdom is a bad thing, Paul insists. Other writings of the New Testament extol the value of intellect and knowledge (Acts 17:11; Colossians 2:8; 1 Peter 3:15). Importantly, there is a difference between human wisdom and the secret, hidden wisdom of God. God’s wisdom includes His plan, established before the world was formed, to offer salvation to those who believe in Christ’s death on the cross as the payment for their own sin.

Human wisdom is based on what can be observed with the senses and worked out with human reason. That wisdom simply cannot see or understand the truth of God. In order to believe God’s wisdom, He must reveal it to us through His own Spirit. As our spirit knows our thoughts, God’s Spirit knows His thoughts and helps us to believe His revelation of those thoughts to us.

The spirit of the world is limited to understanding and believing in only what can be observed with the senses. Christians have exchanged that spirit for God’s Spirit, given to each person who comes to God through faith in Christ. Paul’s work was to use human words—but not bare human wisdom—to help interpret the spiritual truths revealed to those who believe so that they could understand them more fully (1 Corinthians 2:6–13).

Those who are not helped by God’s Holy Spirit are simply unable to comprehend anything spiritual. That’s why they reject as foolish the things of God’s Spirit, including the truth of Christ crucified for human sinfulness. The spiritual person, made spiritual by God’s Holy Spirit, can judge or examine everything, both material and spiritual. Through the Holy Spirit, we have access to the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14–16).

Chapter Context
First Corinthians 2 picks up Paul’s train of thought from the middle of the previous chapter. He reminds the Corinthians that he did not make an impressive display of his own speaking skills or knowledge when he first came to them. He wanted their faith to be in God’s power, not human wisdom. God’s ultimate wisdom can only be understood spiritually, revealed to human beings through God’s Spirit. Those without God’s Spirit cannot understand spiritual things. As a result, they reject the idea of Christ crucified for human sin as foolish. Through the Spirit, spiritual people have the mind of Christ.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

Paul seems to return to his train of thought from the middle of the previous chapter, where he said that Christ did not send him to preach the gospel with words of eloquent wisdom, which would risk emptying the cross of Christ of its power (1 Corinthians 1:17). He is also continuing to make the case for why the Corinthian Christians should not swear their allegiance to a teacher or preacher (1 Corinthians 1:12–13), but to Christ alone.

Paul now reminds them of when he first came to Corinth and began proclaiming the testimony of God. Paul spent over a year and a half in Corinth leading people to faith in Christ and helping to establish the church there. Many of his readers would remember well when he first showed up. Paul’s arrival marked a significant change in their lives as they began a relationship with God.

Paul wants them to remember that he did not preach the gospel to them as if he were performing. The Corinthians would have been very familiar with ancient speakers who amazed their audiences with lofty speech and displays of their own wisdom. Such speeches were part of the entertainment and wisdom culture of Greek and Roman society. Skilled orators would travel from place to place to entertain crowds in this way.

Paul did not present himself or the gospel in this way, however. He did not wrap the great truth of Christ’s crucifixion for human sin in a fancy package to impress the Corinthians. Paul did not perform the gospel—he was not focused on making it entertaining or spectacular. Instead, he presented it to them as plain truth.

Context Summary
First Corinthians 2:1–5 begins with Paul asking the Corinthians to remember what he was like with them when he first came to Corinth. He did not tell them about Christ with impressive speaking skills and displays of knowledge. In fact, he was weak, fearful, and trembling. That was a deliberate tactic on Paul’s part, for their good, so their faith would be based on God’s power and not on any amount of impressive human wisdom.

Verse 2. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

In the previous verse, Paul reminded the Corinthians that when he first came to their town, he did not present the gospel to them with lofty speech or human wisdom. In other words, he did not call attention to himself by performing feats of verbal gymnastics as some entertainers of their day did. He did not wow them with a display of his great personal wisdom. Orators of that era were much like entertainers—and Paul did not want to confuse the compelling truth of the gospel with mere entertainment.

Now Paul adds that he made a conscious choice not to display his knowledge about anything at all except for Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. It is not that Paul did not know about anything else, of course. He was well educated and experienced (Philippians 3:4–5; Acts 17:1–4). At least for these particular people, Paul wanted to be sure they weren’t attracted by spectacle or entertainment. His mission was not to impress them with all he knew and could talk about. Paul decided to focus on a simple, culturally radical mission: to deliver Christ’s message to them.

Verse 3. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,

Paul is reminding his Corinthian readers of his first encounters with them, when he first arrived in town to preach the gospel. He did not wow them with his great speaking skills. He did not try to impress them with his expansive knowledge and wisdom. He decided to only talk about Christ and His crucifixion.

Now Paul adds that, in fact, his presentations were marked by weakness, fear, and much trembling. It is unclear if this was normal for Paul or something unique to his time in Corinth. Some scholars suggest that he may have been sick or suffering through a period of low confidence. Others argue that perhaps Paul was not very impressive in person, generally, and understood that about himself. He remarks in 2 Corinthians 10:10 that one complaint people have with him is that his written words are strong while in person he is “weak” and his speaking is of “no account.”

Paul’s point now is that his weakness as a speaker at that time was actually a good thing because it put all of the focus on the cross of Christ and none of the focus on his presentation skills. Orators of his era were entertainers—amazing crowds with their verbal performance skills. Paul’s apparent lack of theatrics, in its own way, was a major advantage in proving the truth of his message. The gospel can stand on its own without being “dressed up” by showmanship.

Verse 4. and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

Paul continues to describe how he presented the gospel about Jesus Christ and the cross to the Corinthians when he first arrived in town. He did not put on an impressive display of speech and human wisdom, as some traveling teachers of their day were known to do. In fact, Paul wrote in the previous verse that his time with them was marked by weakness, fear, and trembling.

Now he emphasizes once more that his presentation and the message itself were not delivered with persuasive words of wisdom. In other words, he did not dazzle them with impressive arguments in order to convince them to believe in Jesus. Instead, he brought the simple message of Christ and the crucifixion with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power.

What was this demonstration of power? What did the Corinthians experience that helped them to believe the message of the gospel? That is not explicitly revealed here, but it was how God showed the Corinthians that Paul’s teaching was backed by His undeniable power. The fact that this did not come as a result of some emotional, theatrical display was further proof that Paul’s message was true, and not merely a cleverly-crafted sales pitch.

Verse 5. so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Paul concludes the thought from the previous two verses. He has emphasized that when he first came to Corinth, he himself was not very impressive. Not only were his presentations marked by weakness, fear, and trembling, Paul also made a choice not to try to impress the people with his own vast knowledge or skill with words. Instead, he presented the truth about Jesus as clearly and simply as he could. This would have been a major contrast to entertainers of his era, who were known as skilled speakers.

In addition, God somehow accompanied Paul’s teaching with a demonstration of His power and His Spirit. The advantage of this, Paul now writes, is that their faith in Christ rests on God’s power and not on Paul’s persuasiveness with words of human wisdom. Recognizing the truth of the gospel, without the distraction of showmanship, further proved the message was true.

It is not known what form this demonstration of God’s power took in Corinth, but God often used signs and wonders during the time of the apostles to confirm that they spoke for Him.

Verse 6. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.

Paul has rejected human wisdom as a means of teaching the simple message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Human wisdom involves the observation and analysis of life from a limited human perspective. Being limited and fallible, human wisdom rejects anything which can’t be comprehended or worked out by human intelligence. While reason, evidence, and knowledge are important, they don’t infallibly lead a person to accept truth (James 2:19; Romans 1:18–23).

Paul describes this human wisdom as the “wisdom of this age.” Like all human knowledge, and human opinions, the “wisdom” of any particular era, or culture, is temporary and changing. Paul also calls this limited human wisdom the wisdom of the “rulers of this age.” Those rulers, too, are temporary, doomed to pass away. Some Bible scholars suggest that the reference to “rulers” here means human governments and authorities. Others believe them to be supernatural powers: angels and demons involved in human affairs. In either sense, their authority is limited and will be gone when this age comes to an end.

Paul now adds, though, that there is a place for teaching a different kind of wisdom to those who are mature in Christ. By this, he seems to mean the gospel should be presented in the simplest form possible without flourish or unnecessary complication. This not only prevents a person from being distracted by showmanship (1 Corinthians 2:1–2), it also keeps the message accessible to people of all intellectual ability.

However, once someone has come to faith in Christ and is occupied by the Spirit of God with a mind to follow Christ, that person is considered mature and ready to learn the more complicated truths of God’s wisdom.

Verse 7. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.

Paul describes mere human wisdom, with its limited perspective, as fatally incomplete in understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ. Reason and evidence are important, but they do not force a person to accept the truth (James 2:19; Romans 1:18–23). Gospel truth doesn’t need to be dressed up in showmanship to be understood and accepted (1 Corinthians 2:1–2).

Paul points to a higher, better, wisdom, which he does teach to those who are mature, meaning those who are in Christ and have God’s Spirit with them. Paul describes this wisdom of God as secret and hidden. God decreed this wisdom before “the ages”—before time began—for the glory of those who believe in Christ. God’s wisdom is secret and hidden in the sense that it cannot be obtained by mere observation of the world. Evidence can point towards God (Psalm 19:1), but it won’t help those who don’t want to seek God (Matthew 7:7–8). God’s wisdom is above and beyond what humans can perceive in our natural state apart from Him (Isaiah 55:8–9). God must reveal His wisdom to us or we will not be aware of it.

At the heart of this hidden wisdom is the gospel itself, God’s plan put in place from before the beginning. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 1:4–6, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

Verse 8. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Paul has written that God’s secret wisdom for the world, established before time began, included His plan to sacrifice His Son for the sins of humanity. In the previous verse, Paul wrote that God decreed this for our glory.

Our sin made it impossible for us to share in Christ’s glory. We fell far short of it (Romans 3:23). God’s plan, His secret wisdom, would make it possible for our sin to be forgiven by Christ’s death instead of our own and for us to be declared righteous based on Christ’s righteousness and not our own.

All of this hinged on the crucifixion of Jesus, whom Paul now calls the “lord of Glory.” The rulers of this age—the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman government that killed Jesus—did not, of course, understand this. They didn’t know that they were fulfilling a role in God’s plan. If they had known, they would never have killed Jesus.

It’s unclear whether Paul means that they would not have wanted to bring God’s plan to pass or that they would not dared to kill the Son of God. In either case, their blindness to God’s secret wisdom caused them to do exactly as God had decreed.

Verse 9. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,nor the heart of man imagined,what God has prepared for those who love him” —

Paul has been comparing human wisdom with God’s wisdom in the previous verses. Human wisdom is based on what can be observed by the human senses and worked out from human logic and reason. It was highly valued by the intellectuals of Paul’s day. Reason and knowledge are applauded in the Bible, but not given the same lofty status as they are in an ungodly world (Proverbs 1:5; Colossians 2:8).

The problem with human wisdom is that it has no way of accessing God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom must be revealed and then believed or else it remains secret and hidden (Isaiah 55:8–9). God established His wisdom before time began. It always included His plan to sacrifice His own Son to pay for human sin and make it possible for those who believe to share in His glory forever. The rulers of this age could never have known that.

Paul now quotes from Isaiah 64:4 to sum up these ideas and reveal that the motive behind God’s secret wisdom has always been to provide for His people. Isaiah wrote that no eye has seen, ear has heard, or human heart has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.

How could we know? Human wisdom can’t bring us to the understanding that the Creator God loves His people or that He has prepared the glories of eternity to share with them. At best, we can understand this by the intellect. But we cannot trust in it without faith in God (James 2:19). We must believe by faith.

Verse 10. these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

Before the foundation of the world, God planned to bring believers into a relationship with Himself based on love. That relationship would only be possible, however, by the death of His Son on the cross to pay for our sin.

These secrets of God’s wisdom could not be worked out by human wisdom, Paul has written. They must be revealed to humans to be understood and believed by us. How could we possibly believe such a thing, though, even if it is true?

Paul now turns to the means God uses to allow us to come to faith in Him. It’s not a mechanical process, though. It’s a person, whom Paul will describe as the Spirit of God. God reveals the truthfulness of these things to us through His Spirit, making it possible for us to believe something we cannot observe with our own physical senses. Evidence can lead us towards God (Psalm 19:1, Romans 1:18–23), but only faith and the Spirit can lead us to accept God (Matthew 7:7–8; John 4:44).

How does the Spirit Himself know these things? Paul describes the Spirit as being in constant search mode, searching even the depths of God. The Spirit bridges the communication gap between ourselves and God. He searches and understands what is spiritual and makes it possible for us to perceive it.

Of course, the Spirit is God, just as Jesus the Son is God. Though three persons with separate roles, they are one God. We call this the Trinity.

Verse 11. For who knows a person ‘s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Paul has written that the only way for any human beings to know God’s hidden wisdom, including God’s plan for the salvation of believers, is for the Holy Spirit to reveal it to them. It cannot be figured out through human observation and wisdom. Those fallible means can give us intellectual knowledge (Psalm 19:1; James 2:19), but not trusting faith (Matthew 7:7–8).

Now Paul describes God’s Spirit working in a similar way to our own spirits. Nobody can use their human senses to know what other people are thinking, either (1 Samuel 16:7). Only our own spirit, and God, can be aware of our own thoughts. If our “spirit” does not tell what those thoughts are, they will remain secret.

In a similar way, nobody knows God’s thoughts except His own Spirit. The difference is that, mysteriously, God can task His Spirit to come and reveal His thoughts and plans to us. That’s the means by which we come to faith in Christ.

Verse 12. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

Paul knows that the Corinthian Christians have received God’s Holy Spirit, because they have come to genuine faith in Christ and have been saved (1 Corinthians 1:4–9). Every believer who trusts in Christ for salvation is given by God the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul will state this clearly later in this letter (1 Corinthians 12:13), as he has in his other letters (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13–14).

Paul writes that, as Christians, we have not received the spirit of the world. In other words, we have not been given an attitude that only accepts those things which we can observe for ourselves and work out with human wisdom and reason.

When we came to faith in Christ, that worldly spirit was replaced with the Spirit of God. Through Him, we gain the ability to understand what can only be understood spiritually, apart from our physical senses. God has freely revealed these things to us about His Son and the opportunity to be included in His family. He wants us to know them and trust them as true.

Put negatively, this knowledge from God and the ability to believe it is not available to those who do not have God’s Spirit with them. Intellectual knowledge can never force a person to trust in God (James 2:19; Romans 1:18–23).

Verse 13. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Paul has made it clear that God’s plan to bring salvation to those who believe in Christ’s death for their sin can only be known through the Holy Spirit. Human senses and reason are not enough to come to faith in Christ. At best, that can lead to knowledge about God, but not trusting faith in God (James 2:19; Romans 1:18–23). The Holy Spirit must reveal God’s thoughts to us.

Paul now shows, though, that not every believer will be able to interpret and fully understand, these spiritual truths. That’s why He and the other apostles work as interpreters, helping those who have heard from God through the Holy Spirit to better understand what it means. This is a key aspect of discipleship: that more experienced, mature Christians guide newer believers in their growth.

Paul knows he is not the one who makes it possible for anyone to believe. God must reveal the truth through His Spirit to each person who will believe. Paul’s job is simply to use words to help those who believe—or who will believe—to understand what cannot be known with human wisdom alone.

Verse 14. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The point made in this verse is crucial in our understanding of spiritualty, and how to interact with the non-believing world. In short, non-believers cannot be expected to think, or to act, like believers. The problem is not intellectual or moral; reason and evidence point towards God (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:18–23). The key difference is spiritual: those who are not guided by the Holy Spirit, thanks to faith in Christ, simply lack a godly spiritual perspective.

The only way to be believe the truths of God, including His plan for salvation through faith in Christ, is for God to communicate those truths through His Holy Spirit. Paul’s work is to help people who have been given that spiritual ability to believe to understand what it means, but he knows that he cannot make anyone believe it. Intellectual knowledge and human reason cannot produce faith—at best, they can only impart facts (James 2:19).

Now Paul shows the negative. Those without God’s Spirit cannot possibly “get it.” God’s truths must be understood and believed on a spiritual level. Those without God’s Spirit don’t have that level, Paul insists. Like a radio, television, or microphone tuned to the wrong signal, they are literally incapable of receiving that message.

So the natural person rejects as foolish anything that comes from the Spirit of God. Those who have only their human senses and human reason will never be able to comprehend the spiritual truths of God’s revelation about sin, salvation, and Christ to His people. It’s unreasonable to expect non-believers to process spiritual issues in the same way as believers. It’s impossible to expect them to have the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) when they don’t have the Spirit of God.

Verse 15. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

No Scripture is intended to be read devoid of context. Some statements, more than others, are easy to misinterpret or abuse when cut away from their surrounding text. This verse presents that danger.

Paul has written that only those aided by God’s Holy Spirit have the capacity to understand spiritual things, including God’s plan of salvation through faith in the crucified Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14). Those not helped by God’s Spirit simply cannot comprehend spiritual truth. They can grasp things intellectually (Romans 1:18–23; James 2:19), but that does not mean they can attain spiritual understanding. They don’t have the capacity to understand or believe anything beyond the material world (Isaiah 55:8–9).

The word translated as “judges” or “appraises” here is from the Greek root word anakrino. This is related, but not identical, to the word used when Jesus said “do not judge” in Matthew 7:1. In this context, the meaning is that of “investigates” or “examines.” Paul seems to be saying that a spiritual person, given the ability to see and understand spiritual things, can examine everything. That is, spiritual people can assess both things of the material world, known by human wisdom, and spiritual things only known with the help of God’s Spirit.

For the same reason, the spiritual person cannot be correctly examined or investigated by those who do not have the help of the Holy Spirit. Non-believers are not able to truly see the spiritual part of that person (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Some interpreters understand the word “judges” the same as in other passages. Within a certain context, such interpretation is parallel to the idea of discernment or examination. Spiritual people, those with God’s Spirit, have the capacity to apply “right judgment” (John 7:24) because they see clearly both the physical and spiritual realities. That spiritual person, though, has already been judged by God, leaving no room to be judged by anyone else, especially those who are not spiritual.

Verse 16. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul now quotes from Isaiah 40:13 to sum up his teaching in this section. Paul uses the quote to ask a self-answering question: who understands the Lord’s mind? Who teaches the Lord anything?

Of course, no human person teaches God anything. He knows all (Isaiah 55:8–9). Paul’s answer to the question confirms and adds a layer to what he has already written. We have the mind of Christ. By that, he seems to mean that, aided by the Holy Spirit, believers have been given access to the thoughts of Christ. We have been given the ability to see what is spiritual and to think what Christ thinks.

It’s possible that Paul is also referring to the previous verse in which he wrote that nobody can judge “spiritual people,” meaning those given the power to understand and believe God’s revelation. Since nobody can teach the Lord anything and we have the mind of Christ—through the Holy Spirit—someone who is not spiritual has no standing to judge someone who is (1 Corinthians 2:14).

End of Chapter 2.

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